Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

From the author of 1491 — the best-selling study of the pre-Columbian Americas — a deeply engaging new history of the most momentous biological event since the death of the dinosaurs.

More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals. When Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, he ended that separation at a stroke. Driven by the economic goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new homes across the oceans.

The Columbian Exchange, as researchers call it, is the reason there are tomatoes in Italy, oranges in Florida, chocolates in Switzerland, and chili peppers in Thailand. More important, creatures the colonists knew nothing about hitched along for the ride. Earthworms, mosquitoes, and cockroaches; honeybees, dandelions, and African grasses; bacteria, fungi, and viruses; rats of every description — all of them rushed like eager tourists into lands that had never seen their like before, changing lives and landscapes across the planet.

Eight decades after Columbus, a Spaniard named Legazpi succeeded where Columbus had failed. He sailed west to establish continual trade with China, then the richest, most powerful country in the world. In Manila, a city Legazpi founded, silver from the Americas, mined by African and Indian slaves, was sold to Asians in return for silk for Europeans. It was the first time that goods and people from every corner of the globe were connected in a single worldwide exchange. Much as Columbus created a new world biologically, Legazpi and the Spanish empire he served created a new world economically.

As Charles C. Mann shows, the Columbian Exchange underlies much of subsequent human history. Presenting the latest research by ecologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the creation of this worldwide network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City — where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted — the center of the world. In such encounters, he uncovers the germ of today's fiercest political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars.

In 1493, Charles Mann gives us an eye-opening scientific interpretation of our past, unequaled in its authority and fascination.

Review:

"Fascinating....Convincing....A spellbinding account of how an unplanned collision of unfamiliar animals, vegetables, minerals and diseases produced unforeseen wealth, misery, social upheaval and the modern world." Kirkus (Starred Review)

Review:

"Charles C. Mann glories in reality, immersing his reader in complexity. He launches across the Atlantic with Columbus and swings port and starboard through time and space over the whole of the world. The worn cliches crumble as readers gain introductions to the freshest of the systems of analysis gendered in the first post-Columbian millennium." Alfred W. Crosby, author of The Columbian Exchange

Review:

"In the wake of his groundbreaking book 1491 Charles Mann has once again produced a brilliant and riveting work that will forever change the way we see the world. Mann shows how the ecological collision of Europe and the Americas transformed virtually every aspect of human history. Beautifully written, and packed with startling research, 1493 is a monumental achievement." David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z

Review:

"In 1491 Charles Mann brilliantly described the Americas on the eve of Columbus's voyage. Now in 1493 he tells how the world was changed forever by the movement of foods, metals, plants, people and diseases between the 'New World' and both Europe and China. His book is readable and well-written, based on his usual broad research, travels and interviews. A fascinating and important topic, admirably told." John Hemming, author of Tree of Rivers

Review:

"Charles Mann expertly shows how the complex, interconnected ecological and economic consequences of the European discovery of the Americas shaped many unexpected aspects of the modern world. This is an example of the best kind of history book: one that changes the way you look at the world, even as it informs and entertains." Tom Standage, author of A History of the World in Six Glasses

Review:

"Fascinating....Lively....A convincing explanation of why our world is the way it is." The New York Times Book Review

Review:

Review:

"Exemplary in its union of meaningful fact with good storytelling, 1493 ranges across continents and centuries to explain how the world we inhabit came to be." The Washington Post

Review:

"Engaging...Mann deftly illuminates contradictions on a human scale: the blind violence and terror at Jamestown, the cruel exploitation of labor in the silver mines of Bolivia, the awe felt by Europeans upon first seeing a rubber ball bounce." The New Yorker

Review:

Review:

"Spirited....One thing is indisputable: Mann is definitely global in his outlook and tribal in his thinking....Mann's taxonomy of the ecological, political, religious, economic, anthropological and mystical melds together in an intriguing whole cloth." The Star-Ledger

Review:

"Mann is trying to do much more than punch holes in conventional wisdom; he's trying to piece together an elaborate, alternative history that describes profound changes in the world since the original voyage of Columbus. What's most surprising is that he manages to do this in such an engaging way. He writes with an incredibly dry wit." Austin American-Statesman

Review:

"Although many have written about the impact of Europeans on the New World, few have told the worldwide story in a manner accessible to lay readers as effectively as Mann does here." Library Journal

Review:

"The chief strength of Mann's richly associative books lies in their ability to reveal new patterns among seemingly disparate pieces of accepted knowledge. They're stuffed with forehead-slapping "aha" moments....If Mann were to work his way methodically through the odd-numbered years of history, he could be expected to publish a book about the global impact of the Great Recession sometime in the middle of the next millennium. If it's as good as 1493, it would be worth the wait." Richmond Times-Dispatch

Synopsis:

A deeply engaging new history of how European settlements in the post-Colombian Americas shaped the world, from the bestselling author of 1491. Presenting the latest research by biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the post-Columbian network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City — where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted — the center of the world. In this history, Mann uncovers the germ of today's fiercest political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars. In 1493, Mann has again given readers an eye-opening scientific interpretation of our past, unequaled in its authority and fascination.

About the Author

Charles C. Mann, a correspondent for The Atlantic, Science, and Wired, has written for Fortune, The New York Times, Smithsonian, Technology Review, Vanity Fair, and The Washington Post, as well as for the TV network HBO and the series Law & Order. A three-time National Magazine Award finalist, he is the recipient of writing awards from the American Bar Association, the American Institute of Physics, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Lannan Foundation. His 1491 won the National Academies Communication Award for the best book of the year.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Average customer rating based on 6 comments:

karenf, January 30, 2013 (view all comments by karenf)
This is an amazing book! It is also an excellent book on tape. Charles Mann writes in a way that evokes a story rather than non-fiction. This book traces the evolution of the world wide cultural exchange that occurred after Columbus landed on Hispanola. It traces the connections between China, Europe and the Americas and shows how disease (specifically malaria and yellow fever), labor issues and native foods (like the sweet potato) shaped how the world became connected. I was very sad to finish this book - people would be more interested in history if everyone wrote like this.

Josephine Rodriguez, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by Josephine Rodriguez)
Fascinating book about how the Columbian Exchange ended the insularity of Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Oceana. Mann literally changed the way I see the world because he displaced misrepresentations about history after 1493 and replaced them with facts. This history and our collective continued ignorance has shaped the world we live in today.

garryej, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by garryej)
This is a sequel to the excellent 1491. Both books really open your understanding of the civilizations that were here for millenia and the terrible impact Europeans had, both intentionally and unintentionally (diseases). 1493 concentrates on the subsequent impact of all cultures on each other in the years following Colon.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No(2 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)

"Review"
by Kirkus (Starred Review),
"Fascinating....Convincing....A spellbinding account of how an unplanned collision of unfamiliar animals, vegetables, minerals and diseases produced unforeseen wealth, misery, social upheaval and the modern world."

"Review"
by Alfred W. Crosby, author of The Columbian Exchange,
"Charles C. Mann glories in reality, immersing his reader in complexity. He launches across the Atlantic with Columbus and swings port and starboard through time and space over the whole of the world. The worn cliches crumble as readers gain introductions to the freshest of the systems of analysis gendered in the first post-Columbian millennium."

"Review"
by David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z,
"In the wake of his groundbreaking book 1491 Charles Mann has once again produced a brilliant and riveting work that will forever change the way we see the world. Mann shows how the ecological collision of Europe and the Americas transformed virtually every aspect of human history. Beautifully written, and packed with startling research, 1493 is a monumental achievement."

"Review"
by John Hemming, author of Tree of Rivers,
"In 1491 Charles Mann brilliantly described the Americas on the eve of Columbus's voyage. Now in 1493 he tells how the world was changed forever by the movement of foods, metals, plants, people and diseases between the 'New World' and both Europe and China. His book is readable and well-written, based on his usual broad research, travels and interviews. A fascinating and important topic, admirably told."

"Review"
by Tom Standage, author of A History of the World in Six Glasses,
"Charles Mann expertly shows how the complex, interconnected ecological and economic consequences of the European discovery of the Americas shaped many unexpected aspects of the modern world. This is an example of the best kind of history book: one that changes the way you look at the world, even as it informs and entertains."

"Review"
by The New York Times Book Review,
"Fascinating....Lively....A convincing explanation of why our world is the way it is."

"Review"
by San Francisco Chronicle,
"Even the wisest readers will find many surprises here....Like 1491, Mann's sequel will change worldviews."

"Review"
by The Washington Post,
"Exemplary in its union of meaningful fact with good storytelling, 1493 ranges across continents and centuries to explain how the world we inhabit came to be."

"Review"
by The New Yorker,
"Engaging...Mann deftly illuminates contradictions on a human scale: the blind violence and terror at Jamestown, the cruel exploitation of labor in the silver mines of Bolivia, the awe felt by Europeans upon first seeing a rubber ball bounce."

"Review"
by The Star-Ledger,
"Spirited....One thing is indisputable: Mann is definitely global in his outlook and tribal in his thinking....Mann's taxonomy of the ecological, political, religious, economic, anthropological and mystical melds together in an intriguing whole cloth."

"Review"
by Austin American-Statesman,
"Mann is trying to do much more than punch holes in conventional wisdom; he's trying to piece together an elaborate, alternative history that describes profound changes in the world since the original voyage of Columbus. What's most surprising is that he manages to do this in such an engaging way. He writes with an incredibly dry wit."

"Review"
by Library Journal,
"Although many have written about the impact of Europeans on the New World, few have told the worldwide story in a manner accessible to lay readers as effectively as Mann does here."

"Review"
by Richmond Times-Dispatch,
"The chief strength of Mann's richly associative books lies in their ability to reveal new patterns among seemingly disparate pieces of accepted knowledge. They're stuffed with forehead-slapping "aha" moments....If Mann were to work his way methodically through the odd-numbered years of history, he could be expected to publish a book about the global impact of the Great Recession sometime in the middle of the next millennium. If it's as good as 1493, it would be worth the wait."

"Synopsis"
by Random,
A deeply engaging new history of how European settlements in the post-Colombian Americas shaped the world, from the bestselling author of 1491. Presenting the latest research by biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the post-Columbian network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City — where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted — the center of the world. In this history, Mann uncovers the germ of today's fiercest political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars. In 1493, Mann has again given readers an eye-opening scientific interpretation of our past, unequaled in its authority and fascination.

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